ABSTRACT The Relational Ethics of Church Music Nathan Myrick, Ph.D. Mentor: Monique M. Ingalls, Ph.D. Music is an “indispensable” aspect of Protestant Christian worship, to use Brian Wren’s term (2000, 48). Yet it is also perceived as one of the most divisive aspects of that activity, with scholars, practitioners, and congregants alike contributing to this perspective. As scholars such as Donald Hustad (1993), Harold Best (1993, 2003), J. Nathan Corbitt (1998), Brian Wren (2000), James K. A. Smith (2009), and Jeremy S. Begbie (2011) have similarly noted, music connects people to each other and enlivens our emotional and relational convictions. This reality strongly suggests that music has ethical significance; if music is so emotionally and relationally powerful, and can be a source of unity and division, then it should be examined from within an ethical frame. It is surprising, however, that few scholars of Christian worship have attempted to consider music’s way of being in the world from an ethical perspective. This dissertation argues that a central problem in scholarship on music in Christian worship is that the ethical significance of church music has been sidestepped, ignored, or generally undertheorized. Using a multidisciplinary methodology drawn from ethnomusicological fieldwork at three Waco, Texas, Baptist churches and synthesizing theories of discourse, formation, and care ethics oriented towards restorative justice, I argue that church music is ethical when it preserves people in and restores people to just relationships with each other and, when applied directly to ecclesial settings, relationship with God. The Relational Ethics of Church Music by Nathan Myrick, B.A., M.A.T. A Dissertation Approved by the School of Music Gary C. Mortenson, D.M.A., Dean Laurel E. Zeiss, Ph.D., Graduate Program Director Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Baylor University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved by the Dissertation Committee Monique M. Ingalls, Ph.D. Chairperson Paul Martens, Ph.D. Jeremy S. Begbie, Ph.D. C. Randall Bradley, D.M.A. David W. Music, D.M.A. Laurel E. Zeiss, Ph.D. Accepted by the Graduate School August 2018 J. Larry Lyon, Ph.D., Dean Page bearing signatures is kept on file in the Graduate School. Copyright © 2018 by Nathan Myrick All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... VII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. VIII CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF CHURCH MUSIC ....................................................... 1 Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 11 Worship as Ethical Formation ................................................................................ 12 Worship as Political Activity and Discourse.......................................................... 17 Affect and Ethics in Worship .................................................................................. 22 Music and Ethics: Relational, Hospitable, and Responsible ................................... 29 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 35 Description of Fieldwork Sites ................................................................................ 38 Relationship of Researcher to Fieldwork Sites ........................................................ 44 Dissertation Overview ............................................................................................ 50 CHAPTER TWO.............................................................................................................. 54 DISCOURSE: THE WORSHIP WARS AND THE MEANING OF MUSICAL GENRES .............. 54 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 54 Musical Mediation, Communication, and Connection .......................................... 56 Contextual Frame: The Worship Wars ................................................................... 58 Theoretical Frame: Discourse Ethics and Congregational Music Making ............ 60 Music and Language: Different in the Same Kind of Ways ................................... 63 Musical Genre and the Construction of Meaning in Religious Settings ............... 68 The Ethics of Genre and Style for Waco Baptists ................................................... 73 Lakeshore and the “Fundamentalists” during the “Worship Wars” ..................... 79 The Dingman Hypothesis: Musical Genre as Indicative of Exclusion or Inclusion on the Basis of Sexuality ..................................................................................... 85 Conclusion: From Communication to Community; Music’s Way of Being in the World ......................................................................................................... 96 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................ 100 FORMATION: MUSICAL WORSHIP CONSTRUCTING AFFECTION .................................. 100 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 100 Music and Moral Agency ..................................................................................... 101 Affection, Reason, and ‘Emotional Intelligence’ ................................................... 105 Compound Ritual Entrainment: Emotional Efficacy and Relationships ............. 118 Musical Worship and Formation: Music’s Way of Being at Church ................... 122 Affirmation and Critique of Liturgical Formation Ethics: A Theological Excursus ..................................................................................... 132 v Conclusion: Music’s Way of Being at Church ......................................................... 144 CHAPTER FOUR .......................................................................................................... 147 REPARATION: HOSPITALITY, CARE, AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE................................. 147 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 147 Aural Relationships: Music and the Other .......................................................... 152 Care: Responsive, Reciprocal, and Restorative ..................................................... 158 Relational Rupture: Care versus Justice in Congregational Life.......................... 162 Care and Justice in Dialogue ................................................................................ 167 Restorative Justice ................................................................................................. 177 Musical Caring ..................................................................................................... 179 Conclusion: Caring Justly in Church Music ........................................................... 182 CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................ 185 RESPONSE: NEIGHBORS, RELATIONS, AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY ............................. 185 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 185 Relational Response Ethics of Music .................................................................... 187 The Trouble with Responsibility: Relating Selves and Others Through Music .. 189 Theological Response Ethics: Agency, Care, and Power ...................................... 195 Towards a Theology of Care in Response Ethics: Grace and Being for Others in Love .................................................................. 209 “What Would That Even Look Like?”: Relational Response Ethics in Congregational Worship ................................................................................... 214 Navigating Relational Power and Care Ethics Through Church Music ............. 217 A Hospitable Defense: Observation from Greater Ebenezer Baptist Church ....... 224 Lyrics and Actions Inspiring Just Activities ........................................................ 228 Conclusion: Beyond Prophetic: Care, Justice, and Knowing the Difference............ 229 CHAPTER SIX .............................................................................................................. 234 CONCLUSION: THE RELATIONAL ETHICS OF CHURCH MUSIC ..................................... 234 So What?: Why this Research Matters .................................................................... 242 Suggestions for Further Research ............................................................................ 244 Concluding Thoughts............................................................................................... 246 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 247 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Lakeshore Baptist Church Sanctuary .......................................................39 Figure 1.2. Harris Creek Baptist Church Sanctuary ...................................................41 Figure 1.3. Greater